The Collections of Cardinal Leopoldo
Leopoldo de'Medici, the youngest son of Cosimo II and Maria Maddelena of Austria, is a preeminent figure in the history of collecting at Palazzo Pitti. A thoughtful man of great poise, Leopoldo served his brother Ferdinando II in the government of Tuscany as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, a job that was significantly augmented after his elevation to the purple of a cardinal in 1667.
Notwithstanding the requirements of his office, Leopoldo managed to find time and energy to develop his passions: the study of science (he had been brought up as a student of Galileo and his students) and collecting art. His apartments played host to not only his works of art and books that he had accumulated over the years, but also to meetings of the "Accademia del Ciimento", which he founded. While the Accademia lasted only a few years (1657-1667), it provided an important experience. He was also a member of the Accademia della Crusca, devoted to maintaining the purity of the Tuscan language, and he was strongly interested in literary matters. But the collection of works of art was his greatest passion, as can be demonstrated by his copious correspondence, now in the Archivio di Stato di Firenze, and only partially published. The correspondences forms a fundamental source of information about the cardinal's efforts to build his collections. At the same time, the correspondence provides proof of his sensibilities that guided his choice of acquisitions and the awareness of their importance in the development of the collections of the Uffizi Gallery as well.
Arranged on the second floor of the right wing of Ammannati's courtyard (see diagram), the apartment consisted principally of fourteen rooms, each with its own particular specialty. The central room ("Salone de'Quadri", Room S in the diagram) was occupied by 93 paintings, largely of the Venetian School, Leopoldo's great passion. In 1654 he managed to acquire the Del Sera Collection from Venice: including, for example, Titian's Concerto, today in the Pitti, the Sacra Famiglia con Santa Barbara (Uffizi) and Daniele Barbaro (Pitti) by Paolo Veronese, the Immacolata Concezione and the Ingresso di Cristo a Gerusalemme (Pitti) by Tintoretto, the Ritratto Feminile (Pitti) by Paris Bordone, the Ritrovamento di Mosè (pitti) by Bonifacio Veronese, two portraits by Moroni still at Pitti, and others too numerous to mention. Among the non-Venetian pictures was Guido Reni's Cleopatra. In this room there were also some of the most important ancient sculptures acquired by the prince: fourteen busts of Roman emperors and two other very important pieces, the Venere from the Palmieri-Bolognini collection and the Dea Vestale. the "stanza dei pittori" contained self-portraits by painters, numbering at the cardinal's death some 135. Among the most important of these is the self-portrait of the old Rembrandt. This collection, which passed to the Uffizi at the end of the 17th century, constitutes the nucleus of that world-famous collection.
Notwithstanding the requirements of his office, Leopoldo managed to find time and energy to develop his passions: the study of science (he had been brought up as a student of Galileo and his students) and collecting art. His apartments played host to not only his works of art and books that he had accumulated over the years, but also to meetings of the "Accademia del Ciimento", which he founded. While the Accademia lasted only a few years (1657-1667), it provided an important experience. He was also a member of the Accademia della Crusca, devoted to maintaining the purity of the Tuscan language, and he was strongly interested in literary matters. But the collection of works of art was his greatest passion, as can be demonstrated by his copious correspondence, now in the Archivio di Stato di Firenze, and only partially published. The correspondences forms a fundamental source of information about the cardinal's efforts to build his collections. At the same time, the correspondence provides proof of his sensibilities that guided his choice of acquisitions and the awareness of their importance in the development of the collections of the Uffizi Gallery as well.
Arranged on the second floor of the right wing of Ammannati's courtyard (see diagram), the apartment consisted principally of fourteen rooms, each with its own particular specialty. The central room ("Salone de'Quadri", Room S in the diagram) was occupied by 93 paintings, largely of the Venetian School, Leopoldo's great passion. In 1654 he managed to acquire the Del Sera Collection from Venice: including, for example, Titian's Concerto, today in the Pitti, the Sacra Famiglia con Santa Barbara (Uffizi) and Daniele Barbaro (Pitti) by Paolo Veronese, the Immacolata Concezione and the Ingresso di Cristo a Gerusalemme (Pitti) by Tintoretto, the Ritratto Feminile (Pitti) by Paris Bordone, the Ritrovamento di Mosè (pitti) by Bonifacio Veronese, two portraits by Moroni still at Pitti, and others too numerous to mention. Among the non-Venetian pictures was Guido Reni's Cleopatra. In this room there were also some of the most important ancient sculptures acquired by the prince: fourteen busts of Roman emperors and two other very important pieces, the Venere from the Palmieri-Bolognini collection and the Dea Vestale. the "stanza dei pittori" contained self-portraits by painters, numbering at the cardinal's death some 135. Among the most important of these is the self-portrait of the old Rembrandt. This collection, which passed to the Uffizi at the end of the 17th century, constitutes the nucleus of that world-famous collection.
Titian, Concerto, Pitti.
This work was given to the gallery in 1675 with the inheritance of Cardinal Leopoldo de'Medici, who acquired it in 1654 from Paolo del Sera, in whose house in Venice Ridolfi had noted it in 1648. Some scholars have attempted to identify the painting as the Portrait of Verdelot and Obrecht by Sebastiano del Piombo cited by Vasari. The painting dates from the years immediately following Titian's frescoes in Padua, around 1512-1513. (Gregori, op. cit., p. 261.)
Paolo Veronese, Daniele Barbaro, Pitti.
(See Chiarini, Palazzo Pitti..., p. 124.)
Guido Reni, Cleopatra, Pitti.
This masterpiece from the artist's old age was painted around the end of the 1630s. It is mentioned in a 1675 inventory of Leopoldo de'Medici's collection. (Gregori, op. cit., p. 350.)
Bonifacio Veronese, Ritrovamento di Mosè, Pitti.
(See Chiarini, Palazzo Pitti..., p. 124.)
Another important part of Leopoldo’s collections included the drawings by old masters, a collection that grew just as his collection of paintings grew, and into which he inserted works by contemporary artists, for example Pietro da Cortona and Claudio Lorenese. But aside from these important items, the prince also collected what he considered to be ‘minor arts’, including objects made of ivory and crystal, cameos and intaglios, coins and medals, and an extraordinary collection of 17th century miniatures. All these objects were conserved in cabinets arranged around the apartment. Many of the paintings – there were around seven hundred, including the self-portraits – were scattered everywhere, even in the room called “Appimondi”, that is to say, the map room, where some were placed on a large, ebony table. In the same room, one found very large ‘modern’ works by painters like Ciro Ferri, Salvator Rosa, G.D. Cerrini, Vincenzo Mannozzi, and many others. There was also no shortage of large portraits of his parents, his brother, the grand duke, his brother’s wife, his nephew Cosimo III and his wife, Margherita Louisa d’Orleans, all by the hand of the official court painter, Justus Sustermans. Because of his interest in science, there were also various scientific instruments, including a telescope with which Galileo had discovered the “stelle medicee”, or four largest moons of Jupiter. It would take too long to list all the objects that filled the rooms of his apartments, the walls of which were apparently covered in sumptuous silk and trimmings in gold and various colors. The rooms were furnished with the finest furniture. One gets an idea of how it would have been looking at some of the drawings for the furnishings of the palaces and villas provided by Diacinto Maria Marmi, who was the court architect in those years (see: P. Barocchi – G. Gaeta Bertela, Arredi principeschi del Seicento fiorentino. Disegni di Diacinot Maria Marmi, Torino, 1990.)
Marco Chiarini, “Le collezioni di Leopoldo de’Medici”, Palazzo Pitti: l’arte e la storia, Firenze, 2000-2003, pp. 122-125.
See also:
Maria Sframeli, et al, Leopoldo de'Medici principe dei collezionisti; Firenze, 2017
Marco Chiarini, “Le collezioni di Leopoldo de’Medici”, Palazzo Pitti: l’arte e la storia, Firenze, 2000-2003, pp. 122-125.
See also:
Maria Sframeli, et al, Leopoldo de'Medici principe dei collezionisti; Firenze, 2017